


Rebel Karaoke (Tu mirada enamorada me llena de esperanzas)

by theLoyalRoyalGuard



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Disabled Cassian Andor, Fluff, Human K-2SO, Karaoke, M/M, POV Cassian Andor, This idea ambushed me in the middle of the night please enjoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22469842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theLoyalRoyalGuard/pseuds/theLoyalRoyalGuard
Summary: Chirrut discovers karaoke, and drags everyone along. Singing ensues.
Relationships: Cassian Andor/K-2SO, Chirrut Îmwe/Baze Malbus
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	Rebel Karaoke (Tu mirada enamorada me llena de esperanzas)

**Author's Note:**

> cw: alcohol, one character almost has a panic attack, but he's fine, this is fluff
> 
> I've only ever been to karaoke once, please forgive me if this is not how things work, I know nothing, I just wanted to write this scene
> 
> I don't speak Spanish, the subtitle is just a mash of song lyrics, sorry 
> 
> Also my first modern AU fic so that's cool

Saturday afternoons in the Andor-Esso apartment tended to be quiet, just the way Cassian liked it. Kay was on the couch, tapping away at his latest high tech toy, Jyn’s blanket and pillow bunched up next to him as an impromptu elbow rest. The building’s old pipes thunked wearily as the shower shut off. Jyn had crashed with them on Friday night, a not-uncommon occurrence, even when there was no drinking involved. Jyn was attempting dry January – and not enjoying it – and Kay didn’t drink, anyway.

In the kitchen, Cassian turned his attention away from the peacefully domestic and wonderfully normal picture of his boyfriend framed in the doorway, and reminded himself what he was here for. Grocery list. Not mulling over how great having a boyfriend was. Honestly, when had he become such a sap? Grocery list. 

He was going through the dry goods cupboard – everything had a carefully marked place now that he lived with Kay, and he had to admit, knowing exactly where to look for something really did make things easier – when his phone pinged on the counter. 

To his surprise, it was a text from Chirrut. Even though he had voice-to-text, Chirrut hardly ever used it, preferring to call, or worse, just show up. Worried by the unusual behavior, Cassian swiped to view the message.

_Karaoke, seven PM, bring everyone._

He blinked at the text, sure it was some kind of joke.

“Who told Chirrut about karaoke?” he called to the rest of the apartment. 

Jyn skidded through the living room, barefoot, in sweatpants and a tank top, her hair up in one of Kay’s clean towels.

“Chirrut knows about karaoke?” As she peered over Cassian’s arm to read the text, her phone buzzed in her pocket. “It’s from Baze. Wow, I forgot how bad he is at texting. It just says, I think, ‘don’t make me do this alone.’ He must have turned his autocorrect off again.”

“Well, _I’m_ not going,” Kay said loudly from the couch. 

“I am.” Jyn’s thumbs tapped across her phone screen, _we’ll be there_. “We can’t miss this. It’s going to be great.” She popped her phone back in her pocket and laced her arm with Cassian’s. He opened his mouth to protest, looked down at her, and gave up. “It’ll be fun.”

“If I have to go, you have to go.” Cassian disentangled himself and went to stand in the doorway, arms folded across his chest. 

“I do not,” Kay replied, without looking up from the tablet he’d hooked up between two of his gadgets. 

“You don’t have to sing,” Jyn said. “I’m not going to sing.”

“I’m not, either,” Cassian said, firmly, before she could get any ideas. 

“Right. We’re just going to watch Chirrut sing.”

Kay paused, flexing the black metal fingers of his right hand. He’d lost the arm from the elbow down in some sort of accident he ‘wasn’t allowed to talk about’ even to Cassian, so naturally he had state of the art experimental prosthetics, because he ‘had friends in tech,’ which was all sufficiently vague to make Cassian intensely curious. Not that he ever asked. They both liked privacy, it was one of the reasons they got along so well.

“I didn’t know Chirrut could sing,” Kay said slowly, considering.

Sensing an opening, Cassian pressed him. “Come on. Otherwise, you’ll end up spending the evening here alone, and you’re bound to get bored.” And Cassian wanted the security of his company, not that he was about to say so. For one thing, that would put too much pressure on Kay to come _for him_ , and for another, he didn’t like to admit that he needed _anyone_.

Cassian hated crowded places, he hated noise, he hated being surrounded by strangers. He’d never been to a karaoke bar in his life. Even with his friends there, it would still be easier with Kay, and Kay’s inevitable sarcastic commentary about the singers would be much more entertaining than anything else likely to happen there. Kay didn’t care for crowded places either, or really for most people, but he seemed impervious to the agitation that afflicted Cassian. It was nice.

What Kay did hate was boredom. 

“I’ll think about it,” Kay said, which meant yes.

~~~

Kay drove. Jyn insisted they stop and pick up Bodhi, and Kay insisted on not parking in the handicapped space he and Cassian were both entitled to, since “someone else might need it more,” so it was 7:15 by the time they trooped into Rebel Karaoke. Neither Chirrut nor Baze had answered any further texts past sharing the address, and Cassian scanned the busy club, hoping they’d at least gotten a private room upstairs. He hoped that right up until he spotted the back of Baze’s head, his mane pulled up into a messy braid he had almost certainly not done himself.

“Over there.” He pointed, as it was already loud enough to make it hard to hear, and he didn’t feel like shouting. Kay led the way, his sheer height and bulk making space for the rest of them to follow. Cassian tried not to lean on his cane too much, keeping it tucked close and out of the way of feet and chair legs. Bodhi trailed behind, his head already bobbing the music. 

The club had a bar along one side, with all the tables arranged to lead to the small stage with bright colored lights pointing at it. A tiny, talented woman who looked and sounded like she could make a career for herself as an idol, performed her heart out, singing in Japanese under the brilliant pink and blue light bathing her. Grudgingly, Cassian admired that kind of confidence. It certainly wasn’t something he would ever do. 

“This isn’t quite what I imagined,” Bodhi said, right in his ear, and Cassian jumped, then shook his head.

“Not what I had in mind, either.”

He glanced back to make sure Bodhi was okay, but he was looking avidly up at the stage, and despite his words, did not seem uncomfortable. 

They reached the table Baze and Chirrut had claimed for them, fortunately near a wall and close to a corner so there weren’t people sitting behind them. None of them liked having people where they couldn’t see, except Chirrut, for whom it made no difference. Chirrut, too, had his head turned towards the stage, a delighted smile on his face, his whole body swaying happily to the beat. 

Somehow, despite the volume, without turning towards them, he said, “There you are! You’re late! There’s food!”

There was food, mostly sushi. Kay refused to eat the sashimi – he wouldn’t eat most vegetables raw, much less fish – so Cassian took his share, though he managed to convince him to try the unagi. 

The song and performer changed, and he almost felt at ease during the momentary quiet between recordings, only to tense when the music started again. He set down the piece of sushi he’d been about to eat, and took a deep breath. The heavy beat seemed to shake his bones, vibrating inside his chest. He could have kicked himself for forgetting earplugs. His hands clenched into fists, one in his lap, the other around the handle of his cane. He forced another breath in and out, trying to focus on that and not the sensory assault of noise.

A cool, firm weight pressed into his thigh, titanium fingers digging gently into the taut muscle. The grip grounded him, gave him a single point of sensation to focus on. He raised his eyes to Kay, and Kay gazed steadily back at him with a look that said as clear as words _I’ve got you._

“Need to leave?” he mouthed. Cassian shook his head, but put his hand over Kay’s, accepting the contact, and held it there until the tension in his chest began to loosen.

“Get a drink,” Kay suggested, when the offending song ended. No one else appeared to have noticed the exchange. Bodhi had gone up to the bar for sodas for him and Jyn, and Chirrut was entirely absorbed in the music.

“I’m fine. Honestly, you, encouraging me to drink?”

Kay shrugged. “Take the edge off. I’m driving, anyway.”

So Cassian got tequila from the bar, which earned him a Look from Baze, because apparently tequila didn’t go with sushi, or maybe Baze thought self-medicating was a bad idea. He begged to differ. After a shot, which Jyn watched him take rather longingly, he began to relax again.

To his surprise, after the second shot, he even began to enjoy himself. Especially once the early part of the crowd either left or went upstairs. He stopped paying attention to the time, but it must have been pretty late by the time Chirrut got up, allowed one of the staff to offer him an arm as a guide, and proceeded to perform a Chinese pop song Cassian could not begin to guess where he’d heard. 

He didn’t understand a word, but it must have been a love song, because Chirrut kept pointing at Baze during the chorus. Baze, stone-faced and slowly turning pink right to the tips of his ears, sank down a little more in his seat with every repetition. 

“You should sing something,” Jyn hissed from Cassian’s other side. 

Cassian shook his head. Having now had three shots, the movement made the room float slightly, everything softened at the edges. Kay was right, it had helped. “I don’t sing.”

“You sing?” Bodhi asked, his head whipping around as the audience clapped for Chirrut.

“No, no, I _don’t_ sing,” Cassian insisted. 

“Bet you’d be good at it, if you did,” Jyn said, with a rather catlike smile. 

“I have no idea what gives you that impression.”

Her smile only widened. “I’ll sing something if you will.”

That was undeniably tempting. “I’ll think about it.”

“Well, I’ll sing something,” Bodhi said, and they exchanged a rather stunned glance as he got up and walked away.

“What was in that soda?” Jyn asked dryly.

“Bodhi is a very good singer, actually,” Kay said, looking smug at knowing something no one else did. Kay was, as usual, right. Cassian, beginning to feel rather warmly soft from the tequila and the late night, leaned comfortably against his shoulder to watch. Having a boyfriend really was a nice change in his life. Someone he could trust, rely on, as much as he’d ever trusted or relied on anyone. More than he ever had anyone else. Besides, that smug smile was kind of endearing. 

Quite without intending to, he began to imagine himself up on the stage where Bodhi was. What song would he sing? Things were starting to slow down a bit, fewer people, quieter music. While Jyn clapped Bodhi on the back and Chirrut praised his singing, the next person got up and made a few people sniffle with a slow ballad.

It was late, Cassian was just a bit drunk, and Kay’s shoulder was very comfortable. He caught Jyn looking at him, and she raised her eyebrows expectantly. She really was blooming in the light of new friendships. Was he? Did she think the same thing about him?

Chirrut, who always seemed to know exactly what was going on, slapped his hand on the table. “Go on, Cassian, it’s your turn.”

“I’ll do it if Jyn does it.”

The shoulder he was using as a pillow shook as Kay laughed. Jyn pulled her hair dramatically out of its ponytail and got up. “Better think of a song quick, Andor. It’s on.” 

“Can Jyn sing?” Bodhi asked when she was well out of earshot.

“Guess we’ll find out,” Baze grunted, speaking for the first time since Chirrut had sung to him. 

She could, with surprising verve and energy. She often surprised Cassian, though usually in a good way. He didn’t normally like or trust surprises, but he liked her, and found himself smiling. 

When she came back to their table, she nudged him in the ribs. Her color was high, her eyes bright. “Your turn.”

“Fine, fine.”

“You’re going to sing?” Kay blinked rather owlishly at him. Cassian didn’t answer, but got up. The room spun gently, and he leaned rather more heavily on his cane for support as he made his way around the edge of the room to the kiosk, and started scrolling for a song he wanted. It took a bit. A lot of the selection was in Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, none of which he knew. Most of the American pop music that he did recognize he couldn’t have been paid enough to sing. The selection in Spanish wasn’t bad, though most of it wasn’t his style. Finally, he picked something by Luis Miguel.

Cassian didn’t sing much. He certainly never, ever performed for anyone, let alone a room full of complete strangers. Singing was a private thing, something to be done in the shower, or in the kitchen along with whatever soundtrack he was cooking to. Yet here he was, getting up on the stage, the lights very bright in his eyes as the piano track started up. The words floated across the prompter, but he missed the first few notes, his voice wavering. 

Bad start, Andor. Get it together.

He found Kay’s face in the thinned out audience, and fastened his attention on the familiar shapes of him. Broad shoulders and strong cheekbones and the size of him making the rest of them, even Baze, look small. His voice steadied, dropped more comfortably into the notes. 

_Tu mirada enamorada  
que me sigue dando alas  
que la da vida a todo  
y me llena de esperanzas_

He found himself smiling as he got into the flow of the song. He kept looking at Kay the whole time, as the song rose to its height with the electric guitar behind him, and then faded gently to its close.

_Tu mirada enamorada  
que me sigue dando alas  
que le da vida a todo  
porque sin ti no soy nada_

**Author's Note:**

> The song: [Tu mirada by Luis Miguel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoPbdEJnYC8)
> 
> Translation of the two verses quoted:  
>  _Your look in love  
>  That gives me wings  
> And revives everything  
> And fills me with hope_
> 
> _Your look in love  
>  That gives me wings  
> And revives everything  
> Because without you, I'm nothing_
> 
> Full [lyrics and translation](https://lyricstranslate.com/en/tu-mirada-your-look.html-0)
> 
> Also written to (another song I thought about having him sing): [Tú Sí Sabes Quererme by Natalia Lafourcade](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks9o4Ax3Pq4)


End file.
